Astronaut Halfway Through Year In Space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ Space station astronaut Scott Kelly is halfway home.

Kelly marked the midway point of his yearlong space mission Tuesday. He’s sharing the voyage with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko. They arrived at the International Space Station in March and won’t return to Earth until next March.

Kelly says he’s not counting down the days yet. Rather, he’s still counting up. He passed the 171-day mark Tuesday, with 171 more days to go. At the end, it will be just a tad short of a full year. That will break NASA’s current record of seven months for a single spaceflight.

To mark the occasion, Kelly took time out to chat with two cast members from the upcoming movie, “The Martian.” The actors spent the day touring Johnson Space Center in Houston.